Pinocchio - Intellectual Property Law Governing Fictional Characters - Term Paper Example

Pinocchio is a work of fiction in the public domain and issues dealing with intellectual property rights can sometimes be debatable. In the production of Pinocchio as with many other movies or creative works, the issue of intellectual property rights has to be adequately addressed. For movies and creative work, a clear understanding by the actors, producers, and directors of copyright law and trademark laws of the land is quite essential. These important details are necessary for making clear the ownership of such creative works and the brands.

The issues involved include intellectual property rights and who has a legitimate claim on them. In the movie, there is a debate on who are the owners of the images and songs of the movie. For clarity of these proper contracts between the producers and the creative professional should be apparent. Copyright law for example is about the exclusive right given under certain governments exclusive rights to a work to the original producer of such works. These works have to be registered and in the case that they are not registered then the first producer provided he or she can prove his originality automatically becomes the copyright holder.

These copyrights of the Disney movie were done in 1957 and renewed in 1985 and will enter in the public domain in 2052.

The contract
Pinocchio also clearly teaches the audience both the readers of the literal work and those who watched the movies the elements of a contract. A contract is an agreement between two or more parties to fulfill a certain obligation in a specified period for consideration.

This fictional character Pinocchio who was a puppet had a burning desire to become a little boy after he was magically transformed to life. The blue fairy promised to turn him into a boy only if he proved himself worthy. He was to prove his character and show his selflessness before he could be turned into a boy. When we look at the elements of the contract we see here there was an offer and acceptance. The offer was that Pinocchio becomes a good puppet and would be turned into a boy. The other element was consideration. Both parties had something to gain, the blue fairy being a keeper and promoter of good virtues wanted to gain by having Pinocchio exemplify those virtues that are acceptable. Pinocchio on the other hand would have the privileged of achieving his main ultimate goal.

The third element is the capacity to enter into a contract. The two parties of this particular contract both had the proper capacity to enter into a legally binding contract. This is because the matter at hand was directly relevant to them and they both understood their obligations. There can be debate whether talking puppets and fairies constitute legally acknowledged persons but for the movie example, they should be considered as actual persons. As this story is based on a children’s work it could be assumed that the age of the two was acceptable for reasonable logical and rational decisions.

Fourthly this contract as with another legal contract there was an intention to create a legally binding relationship in which both parties have to fulfill their obligations. The entire story and plot revolves around the moral growth of Pinocchio and how eventually he was able to fulfill his obligations to the blue fairy. Though this contract was more one-sided as most of the initial performance of it was based on Pinocchio it was binding and the Blue Fairy was frustrated from performing her part due to the nonperformance of Pinocchio’s part. This however changes at the end of the movie when Pinocchio exemplified exceptional virtues.

This contract failed to meet the obligation of formalities in that it was more informal than informal. There was no signing of documents but it was just a verbal agreement. There was trust that each party would fulfill its obligation once the performance of various tasks was completed.
Lastly, due to the trust element, there was certainly in the contract as all was clearly stipulated and each of the two parties clearly understood his or her obligations. In summary,y this particular plot shows an example that depicts the elements of a contract. Read More